Peut-être mentionné dans l'inventaire après décès de l’artiste, le 28 juin 1824 : « [n°] 38. quatre tableaux, trois en état d’ébauche le quatrième représentant un Cheval effrayé par un lion prisés dix francs »

Collection particulière, Rouen

Galerie Eric Turquin, Paris

Acquis auprès de cette dernière par l'actuel propriétaire en 2011

Collection Louis Grandchamp des Raux

G. Rio, B. Chenique, Les chevaux de Géricault, catalogue d'exposition, Musée de la Vie romantique, Paris-musées, Paris, 2024, fig. 65, p. 126

Elle sera incluse dans le Catalogue raisonné des tableaux inédits de Géricault actuellement en préparation par Bruno Chenique.

L’authenticité de cette œuvre a été reconnue par Lorenz Eitner dans un courriel en date du 17 mai 2005, par Philippe Grunchec dans un courrier daté du 15 juillet 2016 et par Bruno Chenique dans une lettre du 29 mars 2005 et dans un dossier rédigé par ses soins.

A passionate horseman, Théodore Géricault developed his talent for equestrian painting with Carle Vernet who was his teacher for a period of two years. Géricault left behind hundreds of drawings and paintings of horses, exploring the animal’s anatomy, movement and emotions. Keenly observant, Géricault demonstrates a detailed naturalism that is a testament to his profound knowledge of the body and musculature of horses.

This palomino, with its deep golden coat and light blonde mane stands out as a unique example in the painter’s oeuvre, characterised by careful exploration and frequent depiction of all other possible colour nuances in horses. The composition, classical and understated, depicts the animal in profile against a landscape.

The majority of horse portraits by Géricault were painted in the years 1810 to 1815, the date given by Professor Lorenz Eitner to the present painting. It is the period during which he executed several oil studies as well as fully finished paintings showing horses in the royal stables in Versailles. Philippe Grunchec, however, suggests dating this painting to the time of the artist’s stay in England, where he would have seen the works of George Stubbs and James Ward. The dimensions of this canvas, unusual in France, support this hypothesis. A third interpretation, put forth by Bruno Chenique, relies upon the presence of the unusual background where a pair of roaring lions can be seen. According to Chenique, that scene allows the painting to be dated to the return from England, circa 1822-1823, just before the painter’s death, which would explain its somewhat unfinished nature.

The horse, captured in a moment of fright – ears forward, eyes wide open – sees a pair of lions moving in the half-light. As in Cheval Attaqué par un Lion (1), the felines are the cause of the animal’s terror. The subject of the frightened horse occupies a prominent place in Géricault’s work. The composition may, in fact, correspond to the work mentioned in the inventory drawn up following the artist’s death under the title ‘Cheval Effrayé par un Lion’, a painting that Germain Bazin was unable to identify in his 1987 catalogue. According to Bruno Chenique, the darkness of the background may have led the authors of the inventory to perceive only a single wild beast. The figure of the lion, a symbol of strength, appears frequently in Géricault’s work, as demonstrated by a sketchbook at the Getty Museum (no. 95.GD.40.48).

Marked by the great masters whom he eagerly studied, Géricault borrows, but in reverse, the motif of the lion and lioness from Rubens, as it appears in L'Arrivée de la Reine Marie de Médicis à Lyon (exhibited at the Palais du Luxembourg between 1802 and 1815; Paris, Musée du Louvre). Like most great artists, Géricault was well aware of what he owed to the masters of past centuries. As a young man, whilst still working in Carle Vernet’s studio, he spent a great deal of time at the Louvre copying the masterpieces of the greatest artists. As a colourist, a free spirit and a romantic ahead of his time, Géricault was fascinated by Rubens, from whom he drew inspiration throughout his brief career. Several studies based on the cycle depicting the life of Marie de Médicis bear witness to his devotion to the Flemish masters.The great freedom of the brushwork – broad, sweeping, masterful – the brilliance of the horse’s coat and the overall harmony of the composition lend this painting a remarkable power that expresses the influence of English Romanticism on the French school of painting.

1.      Théodore Géricault, Cheval attaqué par un lion, oil on canvas, 54 x 73 cm, Paris, Musée du Louvre